After the morning class, John went to the cafeteria wearing a black coat as his uniform. Although he appeared to be neat and tidy at first glance, the fact that a few buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned and that there was no vest seemed to represent his loose personality.

John turned the corner in the hallway to go down to the cafeteria on the first floor. Without even trying to evade him, he collided with someone running at full speed from the other side. The books he had in his arms fell to the floor.

“…Uck!”

John, who almost fell, barely kept his balance and raised his head. The moment their gazes met, an unconscious sigh squeezed past his thin lips. As expected, words full of sarcasm were said toward John.

“For God’s sake, you again?”

“Look who’s talking.”

On the other hand, Joseph Pierce, who’s like an anti of John, was fiercely staring at him. From Willingham School to Heritage College, the relationship between the two had always been tense. And for John, the reason was unknown, but he always felt anxious around Joseph, because he felt like prey.

“Are you an idiot? Look ahead you.”

This time, it was the same as always. Joseph acted all high and mighty, even though he was in the wrong. It was true that this kind of grotesque attitude was nothing new to John, so he didn’t think much about what he said.

“Mind your business. You were the one running through the hall like a teaser stallion.”

“What? You bitch.”

Joseph’s face quickly became grim at his answer, as John picked up the books scattered on the floor. A teaser stallion is used for mating mares during estrus. In fact, the comparison of Joseph to that was a disparaging remark in many ways, given the various conditions he had. However, John’s expression didn’t change.

“You’re actually smart. You can even understand those words.”

“What did you just say?”

John, who roughly held the books in his arms, approached Joseph. Because of that, Joseph looked really funny. Even though they quarreled day and night, Joseph only flinched and stopped when John approached him. Even now, Joseph’s expression was getting noticeably clumsy as the gap between the two narrowed. Joseph hated him with all his might, so he acted like a bastard. That’s why John didn’t really hate him, but he was just bothered.

“You. You are so full of yourself, you can’t even look ahead…”

Joseph stuttered and made a weak threat with his wandering eyes, as if it were impossible to get closer. John raised his chin and smiled on purpose.

“What are you talking about? I’m impressed.”

“What?”

Looking down at him, John replied in a very kind tone.

“Every day, you’re getting better with your vocabulary. Now your father is going to feel that it was at least worth it, spending tens of thousands of pounds a year on your tuition.”

“Ha, fuck. You really want to die, don’t you?”

“No way. I don’t.”

After that, John tried to ignore Joseph and pass by, but he quickly grabbed John’s arm. As a result, his books fell to the floor once more.

“You little…”

This time, being really annoyed, it was John who raised his voice. But what he said wasn’t a complete sentence. That was because he sensed that something was different from usual. Joseph’s eyes, looking at John with a lot of wrinkles, gradually shone.

“You… “

Joseph blinked slowly. To put it in another way, he was looking at John as if he were a rare creature he had never seen before. Joseph grabbed his shoulders, while John paused for an unknown sense of incongruity. John’s brow frowned on his strong grip.

“Let go, it hurts.”

Regardless of John’s protest, Joseph didn’t let go. His golden eyes persistently searched John’s neck, as if looking for something.

“What are you doing?”

John asked with a puzzled face, but Joseph didn’t seem to hear. No, he ignored it even though he had heard it. It was when Joseph was really close, his hair brushed against John’s cheek.

“Hey, stop it, will you?”

The sudden voice from behind, made them turn their heads at the same time. Dominic Williams and Gregory Perth stood there. While John’s expression when he saw them brightened, Joseph lost his cool. It was because they were John’s best friends.

“Joseph Pie~rce. “

Gregory, who deliberately dragged Joseph’s name, sauntered up to them. Every time he turned his neck, the thick tendon appeared threatening and then disappeared.

“You never know when to back off, do you?”

Gregory knew Jiu Jitsu and his body was also magnificent. But Joseph was also a pretty burdensome opponent. However, Joseph didn’t seem to be intimidated at all, but just raised his lips stiffly.

“I thought it smelled like a pig somewhere, and it was you.”

“Don’t you have a hunch that the pig is going to pop your balls today?”

“Haha, why do I hear ‘oink, oink’ somewhere?”

“Hilarious. I’ll just let you off the hook just this once if you get out of my sight. What do you say?”

Before he knew it, Gregory approached Joseph and growled. Joseph was a little taller, but Gregory was overwhelming in terms of physique. Also, even the thunderous Joseph didn’t want to have a fistfight on campus; but Joseph, who was staring at Gregory agonizingly, turned his attention back to John, as if he had decided it was not worth the effort.

“You.”

“Yeah?”

Joseph, as if he had something to say, soon turned his back without saying anything. The redhead looked angry while walking away.

“Are you okay, John? “

“Huh? Yeah… Thank you.”

Joseph, who was different from usual, somehow bothered him. Because of that, John, who was staring at his distant back, woke up to Dominic’s voice. Then he started to pick up the books, Dominic handed out a bunch of books to John.

“I guess he’s got a grudge or something against you. We can’t let it keep sliding.”

“I guess he just doesn’t like me at all.”

“On the contrary, he loves you.”

“Haha… Stop talking nonsense and let’s go eat.”

Short chapter just to let you know I’m back~! I don’t know if I’ll upload as often, as I’ll try to split the chapters in less parts, but we’ll see.